Nuclear medicine employs radioactive material for therapy and diagnostic imaging. Positron emission tomography (PET) is one type of diagnostic imaging, which utilizes doses of radiopharmaceutical, for example, generated by elution within a radioisotope generator, that are injected, or infused into a patient. The infused dose of radiopharmaceutical is absorbed by cells of a target organ, of the patient, and emits radiation, which is detected by a PET scanner, in order to generate an image of the organ. An example of a radioactive isotope, which may be used for PET, is Rubidium-82 (produced by the decay of Strontium-82); and an example of a radioisotope generator, which yields a saline solution of Rubidium-82, via elution, is the CardioGen-82® available from Bracco Diagnostics Inc. (Princeton, N.J.). A PET scanner in combination with infused doses of radiopharmaceuticals may also be employed to quantify blood flow rate, for example, through the coronary arteries of a patient.
Whether the half-life of a particular radioactive isotope, employed by a radiopharmaceutical, is relatively short or long, a patient undergoing a nuclear imaging procedure is not typically exposed to a significant amount of radiation. However, those personnel, whose job it is to set up and maintain radiopharmaceutical infusion systems, and to administer doses therefrom, are subject to more frequent and prolonged exposures to radiation. Although radioisotope generators and infusion circuits in these systems are shielded, for example, via surrounding lead sidewalls, to protect personnel from excessive exposure to radiation sources, the daily operation and maintenance of these infusion systems can still pose health threats. Thus, there is a need for new infusion system configurations and assemblies that facilitate safer as well as more effective and efficient operation and maintenance of the infusion systems.